Norway

Usage Patterns

Total Online Population (000's) in 2012	4,561
Percentage of Population Online in 2012	97.2%

Demographics

There were 4,560,572 internet users in Norway (representing 97.2% of the population) in mid-year 2012 (June 30, 2012), according to Internet World Stats. (Internet World Stats, October 2012)

---

A total of 95% of the population have used the internet during the last three months in the 2nd quarter of 2012, according to Statistics Norway. The frequencies of computer use between women and men are quite close. Almost everyone in the age groups younger than 65 years is using the internet and the increase has come in the older age groups.

Many people used the internet to read online newspapers and to search for information on, for example, goods, services, travel, accommodation etc. in the last 3 months.

In total, 4% of the Norwegian population aged 16-74 years had no access to the internet as of the 2nd quarter of 2012, according to Statistics Norway. This group mainly consists of people aged over 64 years. 18% of people aged between 65 and 74 have no access to the internet. Meanwhile, the corresponding figure for people aged between 75 and 79 is 40%, a reduction from 60% in 2011. (Statistics Norway, September 2012)

---

Of Europe's 372 million unique visitors, Norway accounted for 3.2 million unique visitors during August 2011, according to comScore. Users in Norway spent an average of 26.1 hours online in the past month, consuming 2,327 pages online. (comScore, October 2011)

Access

Ninety-two percent of households had access to the internet in the second quarter of 2011, according to Statistics Norway.

Generally, households with children and households with high incomes have access to information and communication technology (ICT) more often than others. All of the households with a gross income above NOK 600 000 have the internet at home. The corresponding figure for households with an income below NOK 200 000 is still 80%.

In total, 5% of the Norwegian population had no access to the internet as of the second quarter of 2011. This group mainly consists of people aged over 64 years. One in 4 people aged between 65 and 74 have no access to the internet. Meanwhile, the corresponding figure for people aged between 75 and 79 is 60%.  (Statistics Norway, July 2011)

 

UGC and Social Media

The share of the Norwegian population that has participated in social networks over the internet during the last three months has increased from 59% to 63% in the 2nd quarter of 2012, according to Statistics Norway. The increase is largest among women and the older age groups. There is a decline in social networking in the age group 25-34 years, from 87 to 82%. (Statistics Norway, September 2012)

 

eCommerce

Norway does not record the level of ecommerce penetration of many of its Western European counterparts, including the UK, Germany and France, but research shows it is beginning to catch up.

March 2012 data from Nets, a Nordic payments provider, found that Norway was leading Scandinavia in online buyer penetration in the region, at 59% of internet users. Sweden, with a higher GDP and more than double the digital ad market of Norway (and nearly double the population), was six percentage points behind its neighbor to the west in terms of online buyer penetration.

Online buyers in Scandinavia, by country, March 2012 (% of internet users):
- Norway: 59%
- Sweden: 53%
- Denmark: 52%
- Finland: 45%

Norway's spending per buyer was way ahead of the other Nordic countries, at €218 ($303) in February. That was just less than double the €120 ($167) spent by the average buyer in Denmark, the country with the next highest average spending. Driving up average spending in Norway was the heavy booking of travel via the internet, the No. 1 purchase category.

Looking at who is drawn to buy goods online in the country, Nets found they are heavy users of cards to make purchases, with more than three out of five ecommerce buyers reporting that they used this payment method. In Sweden, by comparison, only 36% of online buyers relied on credit cards, and even fewer used credit cards in Finland.

PayPal is also gaining some traction in Norway, with 8% of online buyers saying they used the online payment processor. That's a higher usage of PayPal than in the other Scandinavian countries studied.

Online buyers in Norway were also more likely to be male and young. 71% of those between ages 18 to 45 reported making an online purchase, compared to 56% of those between the ages of 46 to 59, and only 40% of those over 60.  (eMarketer, December 2012)

mCommerce

As smartphones proliferate, consumers in Norway are increasingly reaching for their devices to buy products and services. 19.2% of consumers in Norway have bought products or services via their smartphone, with music, film and tickets being the most popular purchases, according to an October survey by Eniro/Gule Sider.

Men were more likely than women to be smartphone buyers, with 21.5% of the male population and 16.7% of the female population saying they had used their smartphone to purchase goods or services. Only 3.5% of those ages 65+ said they had bought something via a smartphone.

Demographic profile of consumers in Norway who buy products or services via smartphone, October 2012 (% of respondents in each group):

GENDER
- Male: 21.5%
- Female: 16.7%

AGE
- 18-29: 30.7%
- 30-44: 29.3%
- 45-64: 12.4%
- 65+: 3.5%
Total: 19.2%

Smartphone buyers in Norway are also using their devices to compare prices while shopping in-store. In fact, almost half of those smartphone buyers surveyed in October said they at least sometimes used their smartphones to check how much a product or service they were considering buying costs in another store. Among respondents, men were more likely to do so than women.  (eMarketer, February 2013)

Online travel market

Travel planning

VisitNorway probably thought it was just creating a bit of fun for visitors to its site, like so many other companies that produce simple web games. But something incredible happened to the tourist board's Holmenkollen ski jump game.

The game, which sees users vie against each other to jump the furthest on the classic winter sports event, went viral - a genuine "viral" hit rather than a game or video that has only just hit the internet and is being plugged as "viral".

The game was promoted on VisitNorway, with links published on the DMO's Facebook page and other social networks - nothing particularly unusual about that. But, as manager Hans Petter Aalmo now says, the simplicity of the game, coupled with how ridiculously addictive it is, triggered something in the ether to push it beyond expectations.

Not only did "hundreds of thousands" of people play the game, but they shared results with friends on social networks and challenged each other to play again and again.

But then something very interesting happened. Some players started to capture their winning entries on video and then upload the clips to YouTube. This might seem strange to many, but it inevitably managed to push the game to an even wider audience. Here is an example: this particular clip currently has close to 50,000 views on YouTube - double the number of views to the VisitNorway YouTube channel. This enthusiasm for watching an animated clip wasn't a one-off - there are plenty of other clips from other users boasting about their record breaking jumps, many with over 25,000 views.

Speaking at the OpenTravel Alliance event in London in November 2010, Aalmo says such was the popularity of the game that the organisation discovered some enterprising hackers had managed to get into the system and manipulate their scores. But when asked if such naughty behaviour was frowned upon, given that the game probably also benefited from buzz amongst hackers, Aalmo doges the question initially before saying with wry smile:"If people want to hack into our game then that's fine." (tnooz - talking travel tech, November 2010)

---

Information searches on travel and accommodation via the internet have increased from 52 to 68% in Norway in the last year. (Statistics Norway, September 2010)

Travel booking

Buying and ordering goods or services for private use over the internet is becoming increasingly popular in Norway. The total share of the population that has done e-commerce during the last 12 months has increased to 76% in the 2nd quarter of 2012, according to Statistics Norway.  About 7 in 10 internet shoppers (72%) have bought or booked travel or holiday accommodation, while 53% have purchased tickets for events. (Statistics Norway, September 2012)

 

 

Broadband Access

Last Updated on Tuesday, 30 April 2013 08:58